page_title: The Origin of Birds
section_title: Publication
hierarchical_section_title: The Origin of Birds / Publication
caption_attribution_description: English: Gerhard Heilmann, self-portrait (1912)
context_page_description: The Origin of Birds is an early synopsis of bird evolution written in 1926 by Gerhard Heilmann, a Danish artist and amateur zoologist. The book was born from a series of articles published between 1913 and 1916 in Danish, and although republished as a book it received mainly criticism from established scientists and got little attention within Denmark. The English edition of 1926, however, became highly influential at the time due to the breadth of evidence synthesized as well as the artwork used to support its arguments. It was considered the last word on the subject of bird evolution for several decades after its publication.
  Through the course of the research represented in the book, Heilmann considers and eventually rejects the possibility of all living and several extinct groups of reptiles as potential ancestors for modern birds, including crocodilians, pterosaurs and several groups of dinosaurs.
context_section_description: Between 1913 and 1916, Gerhard Heilmann published a series of articles in the journal of the Danish Ornithological Society, all heavily illustrated and dealing with the question of the origin of birds. He first proposed the idea of a popular treatise on bird evolution in 1912 to Otto Helms, the editor of the journal of the Danish Ornithological Society. Helms supported the idea but recommended that Heilmann first seek professional advice on the topic. Despite the lack of formal training in zoology, Heilmann succeeded in amassing his research with the help of several others, including the expert in prehistoric animals at the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, Adolf Herluf Winge, and the biologist D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson of the University of Dundee. Winge, though initially showing interest in Heilmann's work, later proved to be a source of frustration by refusing to engage Heilmann in depth on various scientific queries. Heilmann eventually broke off contact, expressing some bitterness at the apparent change of heart, which Heilmann later ascribed to Winge's belief in Lamarckism.
  Heilmann's original articles were publicly ignored by Danish zoologists, but caused considerable unrest behind the scenes. Danish zoologist R.H. Stamm, for example, mocked Heilmann in private letters to Helms shortly after the publication of his first article. Other Danish zoologists openly expressed their disdain for Heilmann's work as well, including the professors of zoology in Copenhagen University J.E.V. Boas and Hector Jungersen. Despite this, Helms continued to steadfastly support Heilmann and his ideas, which eventually began to gain attention from abroad. In April 1913, the American expert in fossil birds R. W. Shufeldt came across Heilmann's first article by chance. Shufeldt, who was married to a Norwegian, could understand some Danish and was able to interpret Heilmann's work and initiated contact with him shortly thereafter. This opened up the opportunity for international correspondence with distinguished paleontologists for Heilmann, which was instrumental to the recognition of his work outside of Denmark.
  Heilmann's articles were later collected and published as a book in Danish in 1916 with the title as in his series, Vor Nuvaerende Viden om Fuglenes Afstamming ("our present knowledge about the origin of birds"). This met the same lack of interest and is thought to have been a result of publishing in Danish, as this made it inaccessible to many scientists working in the U.S. and much of Europe. The field of paleontology at the time was dominated by American and English scientists, and the discipline in continental Europe was dominated by Germany and to a lesser degree France.
  Consequently, and at the urging of Shufeldt, Heilmann devoted much of the next few years attempting to find an English–language publisher willing to undertake a translation of his work. None of the larger publishers he approached were willing to do so unless Heilmann himself was prepared to finance it, which he was unable to do. In the meantime, Heilmann took the opportunity to revise and improve his manuscript, which included information he acquired from examining the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx for the first time in 1923 at the invitation of Josef Felix Pompeckj, a professor at the Natural History Museum in Berlin. Examining this important specimen in person allowed Heilmann to add some additional details and revisions to his understanding of the hip, the skull, and the flight feathers. With the help of the English paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward of the British Museum, he finally met success in finding a small London publisher willing to produce an English version of his manuscript in 1926.
caption: Self–portrait of Gerhard Heilmann from 1912
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